LONG ISLAND BULLETIN BOARD

A student who graduated last June , overdosed after attending a drinking party on Friday night. The student is known throughout Sachem North as a youth who was always joking around and kept administrators busy with minor infractions. He almost loss his life in a major car accident after another night of partying a couple of years earlier.
PARENTS: There is power in numbers. Let your voices be heard. Request that all students in high school be given the facts about drugs and alcohol abuse. Let there be random drug and alcohol testing and if found positive they must attend a detox center.

I need to start out by expressing sympathy for the young adult's family on the tragic loss.

But now onto the subject and the attempt to use a tragedy to advance an agenda. Personally, I feel enough (really way too much) valuable educational time is being wasted on drug an alcohol education in the schools. That's the families' job. Bad enough the kids waste a period for an entire semester on the "health" course. No more.

Drug testing of normal students (not involved in sports or clubs) is unconstitutional and even the clubs portion hasn't been tested in NY state courts. If the district tried random testing of the general student body, they would be sued the next day - by me, if nobody else.

Everyone should be random checked. why just sports and clubs? This is a problem for all kids. Are you afraid your kid will test positive? Sounds like you're part of the problem, especially when you say you'll be the first to sue. Go fall down in walmarts parking lot, that's right up your ally. Education is the answer by teachers and parents.

Just to clarify. I don't think anybody should be subjected to testing and thankfully Sachem doesn't.

The Supreme Court has ruled that districts can do (unless it violates state law) suspicion-less testing of kids in athletics and clubs because they are voluntary activities. Because school attendance is mandatory, testing the general student body runs afoul of the 4th amendment.

And just to clarify, I have no interest in money but if the district tried random testing, I would be first in line to sue and to get a restraining order.

As for your snide comment about being afraid my kids would test positive, at first I was going to respond, but then I realized that was the whole point. I'm happy with my parenting, how my kids have developed, and how they do in school. Anything else is private.

Does Sachem do random searches with drug dogs?

Of lockers, empty classrooms, and, I think, the parking lot.

Marching dogs passed students or vice versa would go against the 4th amendment.

The district no longer does the searches. Administration does not believe in it.

It is always sad to see a young person die.

That said, the decisions were made by the young person, not his or her teachers, nor his or her school administrators.

People, you can't keep asking schools to clean up every aspect of lack of parenting. The job of the school is to educate its students, not give thewm a proper upbringing which should centrally include the role of an individual's responsibilities, including respect for one another, respect for property and making sound decisions based on the values taught at home.

Our car engines have catalytic concerters in the exhaust system. The converters chemically change the harmful pollutants into much less harmful emissions. In essence, the catalytic converters "clean up" the mess the engine makes. The school cannot function as a catalytic converter to remediate every student responsibility, manners, promptness, conscientiousness, motivation, goal setting, respect for one another, respect for property and the ability to make sound decisions. The amount of time this would take would leave no time to educate students.

Education must be a partnership between schools and families, with both having very serious responsibilities. There must be dramatic improvements in both areas if our nation is to remain competitive.

Thank you Fred Gorman. This site forced the Super to do drug searches again. The police arrested. A student from a drug dog search at his beloved North HS. Fred is the best!
There are drugs in our schools. Let's keep them out.


Don't thank me...Thank Christine Lampitelli, She was the force behind the dogs. She is a totally involved in ending the drug threat to our kids and helping the lost ones get treatment. John Kennedy and Christine are the Heroes.

Good job Lampy!

then she has lost my vote forever and I will actively advocate for whomever runs againsther.

Bring the dogs in every week, and sniff away..Why would anyone be against trying to keep drugs out of our schools?
Don't bring up civil liberties here these are under age kids, and we should all applaud trying to keep our schools safer..
At the same time this would be right on the boarder of crossing the line...

Bring the dogs in every week, and sniff away..Why would anyone be against trying to keep drugs out of our schools?
Don't bring up civil liberties here these are under age kids, and we should all applaud trying to keep our schools safer..
At the same time this would be right on the boarder of crossing the line...

If you want to keep drugs out of schools, then do the right thing by your own kids and have the hard talk with them. YOU DO IT. Punish if guilty, send to rehab, use tough love, let them fail, let them spend a night in jail if you have to, to teach them a lesson, but, you do what you need to do, to reign your kid in. Don't expect the schools to do it. Please don't trample the rights of all the good kids/good students out there-my kids especially, because a few slacker parents aren't doing what they are supposed to. This is America. You are not a criminal until proven not a criminal...you are innocent until proven guilty. Let's keep it that way. Let's keep the rights that our forefathers left their homeland and then fought wars for people because once you give those rights up under the guise of being just a bit safer (which really is not true at all), you lose those rights forever.

It is not crossing the line. The lockers belong to the SCHOOL not the student. I agree the parent has the responsibility to speak to their own child about drugs and the dangers therein, but how many stories do you hear that the parent did not know?????? The kids are good at hiding it, and signs are not seen until it is too late. I for one would rather have the extra peace of mind that if there are drugs in school, the issue is being addressed, rather than relying on other people's parenting and skills of observation. Anyone that has nothing to hide will have no objection to keeping our schools free of drugs. The dogs do not violate anyone's rights.